Astor’s Son’s Inheritance Cut in Half in Estate Accord

March 28 (Bloomberg) -- The inheritance of Brooke Astor’s
son was cut by more than half in a settlement over the
philanthropist’s estate that provides $100 million to charities,
according to the New York attorney general’s office.

The settlement ends a five-year dispute over Astor’s will,
and includes a $30 million fund that will make grants to improve
education in New York City, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman
said today in a statement. Manhattan’s Central Park, the New
York Public Library and the Metropolitan Museum of Art are among
those also receiving funds, the state said.

Astor, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, died in 2007
at the age of 105. She was the last of the American branch of
the Astors, a family whose financial and social prestige was
once synonymous with the wealth and power of the Rockefellers
and the Morgans. The family’s holdings at various times included
the St. Regis Hotel, the Empire State Building’s site and
Newsweek magazine.

Anthony Marshall, her son, was convicted in 2009 of
defrauding his mother by having her change her will when she was
incompetent to do so. Marshall, 87, was sentenced to one to
three years in prison. He remains free on bail pending appeal of
the conviction, according to his attorney Ken Warner.

“Mr. Marshall is pleased that a settlement has been
reached,” Warner said in a statement. “He is almost 88 years
old, and much prefers closure to an expensive and protracted
litigation over his mother’s estate.”

Son’s $14.5 Million

The settlement payment to Marshall cuts his inheritance to
$14.5 million, less than half of the approximately $31 million
that he stood to receive under Astor’s most recent will,
Schneiderman said. Marshall and his wife will relinquish all
rights the will gave them to select charities that would benefit
from Astor’s estate. The settlement is binding on Marshall
regardless of the outcome of the criminal case, according to the
attorney general.

Marshall was accused of taking advantage of his mother
partly by trying to obtain millions of dollars she intended for
charities. He was motivated by fear that his wife, Charlene,
wouldn’t be left with enough money when he died, prosecutors
said. Astor, who didn’t like her son’s wife, left her only coats
and jewelry, they said.

The settlement “honors Mrs. Astor’s final wishes and
benefits New York’s landmark educational and cultural
institutions,” Schneiderman said in the statement.

Library Gift

The gift to the New York Public Library will be used for
reading and literacy programs for children, research and branch
libraries and the creation of a room in the names of James Lenox
and John Jacob Astor.

Astor’s dedication to the library as a trustee transformed
the institution in “lasting ways,” and the settlement means
her legacy as a supporter of the library can continue as she
intended, the library president, Anthony Marx, said in the
statement.

“We are immensely grateful that her charitable intentions
will be honored and her dreams for the library can be
realized,” he said.